Yesterday afternoon, I volunteered at church to man the donation point for Katrina victims.

The truck is going to Baton Rouge. I don't feel like working right now because the logistics are kind of up in the air. This is distracting. Later this afternoon, I will be taking the truck to U-Haul to be checked out and see if it is worthy to drive 375 miles. There might be some extra unloading and reloading.

I'm actually taking the afternoon off but I'll be even busier between a meeting and dealing with this truck.

When I was a part-time retail slave I thought nothing about taking long road trips with minimal planning. Of course none of these road trips involved 2 tons of relief supplies. One road trip did involve me sleeping in the open bed of a pick up truck while it sped up Interstate 35. I was younger and felt much less mortal.

Walter met a couple from New Orleans, while he was at work. They are staying in some of the long-term housing. They said that they were overwhelmed by the generosity of the people of Texas. The couple are musicians and are looking to replace some equipment. This couple apparently is one of the better off people from New Orleans, they offered some money to the people providing the housing but it was refused.

Similar sentiments have been expressed about Texas' generosity and hospitality in the newspapers and other media.

Several refugees have decided to call Bryan/ College Station their new home.

One of the cool side effects of our church's work with the Salvation Army/ United Way is the mention of our church on mainstream radio and television. I was thrilled to hear the name of my church on a radio station that I actually listen to. There are many people who need to hear the Unitarian-Universalist message who do not listen to public/ community radio. They need to know we are here.

In my church when the subject of radio advertising comes up - it is always let's advertise on KAMU/ KEOS. Yeah, the cost is small and it targets the kind of people who might like our message but our church has preached to what we percieve as our choir but yet they don't come or they visit once and are never seen again. I say, lets spend some extra money and get our message out to more people. We need to stop making assumptions about who would enjoy our church and who wouldn't.

People in our church do feel a bit isolated from the rest of the community because their beliefs are a bit out of the mainstream of our community. We connect to each other but in a lot of ways we have isolated ourselves from the community at large. I'm hoping this Salvation Army/ United Way project will be the first of many events that connects us to the larger community and spreads goodwill about the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Update: a new team has been assembled to take the truck to Baton Rouge. Walter will provide them with two-way radios for the trip. Some members of the church has generously chipped in for gas.

Right now, I'm unusually tired. I went grocery shopping while tired, sweaty, crampy and hungry. I've dealt with 3/4 of the list. I'm going to bed early and will see the truck off in the morning.

The state of Texas has taken in nearly a 1/4 million Hurricane Katrina refugees. Our, Governor Rick Perry (Aggie and possessor of the finest head of hair among the governors of all 50 states, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories) has declared that Texas shelters are near full capacity and has started airlifting people to other states.

Governor Perry (well-coifed Aggie) has busted the myth circulating among those opposed to population control that the entire world's population can live in the state of Texas.

Texas is nearly full. We cannot house the entire world's population. Use condoms.

In case, you are skeptical of the fineness of the locks of the Governor of Texas, take a gander at the photo I've posted. Do a Google image search and you will find that our Governor is always well-coifed regardless of the situation.

I challenge residents of other U.S. states, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories to attempt to prove that the Governor of the great state of Texas is not the most well-coifed Governor from among the 50 states, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories.

Texas may rank at the bottom in many respects but damn, our Governor has great hair.

This week I ran 20.25 miles, burned 2382.5 calories and weigh 163.2 pounds. So far this year, I have ran 527.19 miles and burned 65,390.5 calories.

Tomorrow afternoon, I'm volunteering at the Salvation Army's collection center that has been set up at church. There might be a road trip. I had no idea that being able to drive a standard transmission was such a valuable skill.

One of the TV stations talked about our collection on the 10:00 news. There was a brief clip of me talking about our mission and how this ties into it. I attempted to tie this to our first UU principle because that was the first thing that came to mind when asked. It came off well, I think.

I have a deep voice.

I'm tall, I have a deep voice and I'm married to a man named Walter. Holy crap! I'm Maude! Thankfully, my life is nothing like a Norman Lear sitcom. Otherwise, I would have to kill myself or others. I could not take all the shouting. I would do whatever was necessary to stop the shouting.

I'm an INFP (Meyers-Briggs personality type) and this type wants a kinder and gentler world and will kill if necessary to make that happen.

To close this entry - this week's book:


The Red King (Star Trek Titan Series), Vol. 2

I'm eagerly anticipating Sept. 27 - the day when this book hits the shelves.

To those who are claiming that Katrina is a message and/or punishment from God because of the sins of the Gulf Coast, kindly SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Do you think God, the creator of all things, is not capable of performing surgical strikes? Man has weapons capable of destroying my house without destroying my neighbors.

There is talk about a festival, that was going to take place this week in New Orleans, celebrating homosexuality and how God sent the hurricane to put a stop to it. I think God is capable of telling time. If He wanted to send a message I think He would have sent the hurricane during the actual festival. This week not last week. God works in mysterious ways, I guess.

Men have signed treaties against corporate punishment and retribution (i.e. punishing the whole population of a place for the actions of a few). Man has declared it a "war crime". Check the Geneva Convention. Do you believe that a compassionate God is a war criminal? In the Old Testament, when God destroyed places He spared the righteous.

Of course, God is above men and should not be judged by men's standards even if God, according to some of his believers, is not capable of doing things that his creation has mastered. I believe God is the best in us not the worst.

It is human nature to want an explanation for things but there is no reason that Katrina landed where it did. Just weather conditions and dumb luck. The suffering in the aftermath is man's fault.

So please STFU and help and uplift your fellow human and stop draining marshes. God put them there for a reason.

-------------------------------------

"Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the
beaten. And seeing them, he cried, 'Great God, how is it that a loving
creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?' God said, I
did do something. I made you."
- Sufi Teaching

Walked 3,664 steps/ 2.74 kilometers.

Bryan - College Station is hosting a fair number of Katrina refugees. There are three shelters and several collection points. The Unitarian-Universalist Church will be one of the collection points Saturday - Monday.

Our schools, charities and social services are dealing with evacuees.

Here is an article I read about in another forum. It is a non-hysterical criticism of the handling of the situation in New Orleans.

http://www.slate.com/id/2125494/nav/tap2/

The Bush administration has been staggeringly ineffectual in its response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in New Orleans. Its failures are painful evidence of how far we have to go in developing the capability to respond rapidly to a mass-casualty disaster. The president's statement this afternoon set the tone. Rather than direct the U.S. military to immediately assist the thousands of people without food or water in the city center, Bush assured the nation that expected gasoline shortages would be temporary and that his father and former President Clinton were ready to pass the tin can to ensure private-sector support for rebuilding New Orleans. As people began dying around the Convention Center, and Mayor RayNagin resorted to issuing a pathetic SOS over CNN, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff spoke empathetically of the suffering of the people in NewOrleans. But somehow he seemed proud that 72 hours after the hurricane hit, only 2,800 National Guardsmen had come to the city. The number is about to reach12,000 by tomorrow. That is awfully late for the people stranded there. Yet Lt.Gen. Russel Honoré, who is commanding the military component of Washington's response, pleaded for patience from the people of New Orleans, promising that the U.S. Army was "building the capability" to help them. Building the capability? How is it possible that with the fourth anniversary of 9/11 almost upon us, the federal government doesn't have in hand the capability to prepare for and then manage a large urban disaster, natural or man-made? Interms of the challenge to government, there is little difference between aterrorist attack that wounds many people and renders a significant portion of acity uninhabitable, and the fallout this week from the failure of one of NewOrleans' major levees. Indeed, a terrorist could have chosen a levee for histarget. Or a dirty-bomb attack in New Orleans could have caused the same sort offorced evacuation we are seeing and the widespread sickness that is likely to follow. Chertoff's Department of Homeland Security demonstrated today that it couldorganize an impressive press conference in Washington, lining up everyparticipating civilian or military service from the Coast Guard to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to promise its cooperation. But on the ground inLouisiana, where it counts, DHS is turning out to be the sum of its inefficient parts. The department looks like what its biggest critics predicted: a new level of bureaucracy grafted onto a collection of largely ineffectual under-agencies. What has DHS been doing if not readying itself and its subcomponents for a likely disaster? The collapse of a New Orleans levee has long led a list ofworst-case urban crisis scenarios. The dots had already been connected. Over the last century, New Orleans has sunk 3 feet deeper below sea level. With each inch, pressure grows along the levees. Meanwhile the loss of wetlands and the shrinking of the Gulf Coast's barrier islands have reduced the natural protection from hurricane winds. The weakness of the levees was underscored in a 2002 wide-ranging exploration of New Orleans' hurricane vulnerability by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, one of many grimly vindicated Cassandras. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, which built the levees and continues to manage them, told the paper then that there was little threat of a levee's collapse. But the corps admitted that its estimates were 40 years old and that no one had bothered to update them. The response to Katrina thus far indicates two flaws in the Bush administration's thinking about homeland security. The federal government hasn't learned how to plan for a tragedy that demands putting a city on sustained life-support, as opposed to a one-moment-in-time attack that requires recovering the dead and injured from debris and then quickly rebuilding. And DHS appears unwilling to plan for the early use of the U.S. military to cope with a civilian tragedy. Presidential administrations have perennially underestimated the difficulty of the latter task. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy's top aide, Kenneth O'Donnell, thought it would be easy to deploy troops rapidly to defend James Meredith when he was attacked by segregationists while trying to enroll as the University of Mississippi's first black student. "If the President of theUnited States calls up and says, 'Get your ass down there,' " O'Donnell said, "I would think they'd be on a fucking plane in about five minutes." Kennedy made that call. But then, in spite of O'Donnell's prediction, he watched infrustration as the army dithered for hours before deploying to Oxford, Miss. The Kennedy administration thus learned that the army must be told in advance what to do. As a matter of law and preference, the military does little training for domestic missions. It balks and mutters about posse comitatus, the legal principle that prohibits the use of the army for law enforcement, and leaves the hard work for the National Guard and state and local authorities. This has made sense most of the time. But in an era when we are supposed to be better prepared for an urban disaster, the tradition of allowing local and state authorities to be overwhelmed before the federal government and military step in should have been rethought. Located only three hours from New Orleans is Fort Polk, home of the 4th Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division, a light infantry unit with about 3,000 soldiers. Also at Fort Polk is the Joint Readiness Training Center, which prepares military units to respond rapidly to crises abroad. The 4th Brigade has been training for duty in Afghanistan. Why was it also not ready to take on a local disaster scenario in hurricane season? Or at the least, once the National Hurricane Center predicted that the eye of Katrina would come close to NewOrleans, couldn't DHS have deployed the military to help shore up the levees? And in the event of a WMD attack, when there would likely be no warning at all, what is DHS's contingency plan for moving into position the army or the marines to restore order and sustain life? In the wake of Katrina and the breached levee, the answer seems to be not much of one. In the wake of 9/11, that is worse than incomprehensible. It is unforgivable.

Walked 5,881 steps/ 4.41 kilometers yesterday.

Moderated a rather lengthy meeting last night. It ended a bit earlier than scheduled. A lot of information was shared at this meeting. I hope the participants found it useful.

Finished a large copy job. I was feeling rather grumpy about the whole thing because it took three days and created a bit of frustration because of time and equipment malfunctions. Nothing is in optimal working order after running three hours straight.

Anyway, I count it as a blessing (not because I deserve it for any particular reason - just lucky) that I have a home and a job and a city. A natural disaster on the order of Katrina certainly puts things in perspective. My concerns are quite petty in comparison.

Here is a blog from a NO resident http://gutterboylive.livejournal.com/
I know him from a newsgroup that I spent too much time in.

The son and his family of a couple whose house I'm watching will be taking refuge in the house. They do not know if their home still exists.

I'm not sure how I would handle having my life disrupted for several weeks.

The fundies are blaming it on the gays. The anti-abortion people are blaming it on the number of abortion clinics in New Orleans and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is blaming Haley Barbour's role in convincing President Bush to not sign the Kyoto Protocol for the amount of damage Mississippi received.

This has been all over the internet: http://www.wonkette.com/politics//finding-versus-looting-123124.php
White people find, black people loot.

Thoughts and prayers to the people suffering through this.

Walked 9,619 steps/ 7.21 kilometers

Today was the first day of class. I got to work early because I thought there was an 8:00 am class in my classroom. There is brand new equipment in the classroom but it was not fully functioning until about 5:00 pm. The new equipment looks cool and I can't wait to try it out tomorrow.

It was a busy day.

I miscalculated my marathon training time. I am four weeks behind schedule. I'll be increasing my long runs a bit more quickly to compensate.

This week's book:

It's Science With Dr. Radium (Dr. Radium Collection Series)

I was reading the customer reviews of Star Trek Titan: Taking Wing at the Barnes and Noble website. There were two reviewers that objected to the presence of gay characters in the book. Actually, only one strongly objected the other one cannot spell very well or really believes that there is no place for "guy characters in Star Trek". Isn't homophobic Trekkie a bit of an oxymoron? How can anyone watch 5 different Star Trek TV series, 9 movies, read countless novels and comic books and miss the central point of tolerance and appreciation for those who are different?

Homophobic Trekkie - now that is irony.

This week I ran 17.63 miles, burned 2,187 calories and weigh 163.2 pounds. I think my father-in-law broke the scale. My increased consumption of Dairy Queen Blizzards have nothing to do with my weight gain.

Monday - 5K - 34:50
Wednesday - 4 miles - 48:43
Friday - 5K - 33:42
Saturday - 6.3 miles - 1:00:29. That time includes traffic stops.

I miscalulated distance and turned around at the wrong place. I was attempting to run 7 miles. I ran in the late morning again. It did not affect me like last week but my performance is extremely compromised by the heat. I will not run before 10:00 am until it becomes cooler. I had every intention of getting out of bed this morning and running but it did not work out. If I can't get my butt out of bed maybe I should wait until after 6:00pm to run. That would make things a bit difficult for the extremely long runs but hopefully the weather will be cooler by the time I get to those.

Friday I walked 9,380 steps/ 7.03 kilometers.

Lola was well behaved at adoption today. She is a great dog and is a great ambassador for all Pit Bulls. With some training she would make a great therapy dog.

I'm going to a church board retreat tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.

Walked 4,713 steps/ 3.53 kilometers.

Had another short and efficient meeting.

TRANSPORTATION FUTURISTICS
What will transportation be like in the future? The
transportation galleries feature futuristic art, drawings
of inventions that could be the way that transportation
will go in, you guessed it, the future.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/exhibits/futuristics/index.html

I like the "futuristic" art.

I want my flying car and personal jet pack!

Walked 11,924 steps/ 8.94 kilometers yesterday.

The meeting went well.

Walked 4,611 steps/ 3.45 kilometers.

Walked 11,254 steps/ 8.44 kilometers.

I have a very long meeting tomorrow. It is an exit interview. At least there will be pizza.

Spam Zen koans:
Get a natural advantage (as opposed to artificial?)
Unsecured loans are there when you need it (How about free money? Why isn't it there when I need it?)
roofing nails
Good for you (Thanks!)
We may be looking someone like you (What a waste of plastic surgery)
this is not a spam email or an advert its a request for help (If you have to say it is not spam, then it is spam)
Waiting for your responce and remain blessed.
No think it ban (No kill I)
Read carefully (Always good advice)

This week I ran 17.35 miles, burned 2,187.6 calories and weigh 160.8 pounds.
I ran 5K on Monday at 35:28 and on Friday at 34:15.

I ran 6 miles on Saturday in 1 hour and 20 minutes. It was early afternoon and hot. It was very stupid to run at that time. I got a sunburn on the base of my neck and a headache. I drank a lot of water and Gatorade but it must not have been enough to prevent the headache. I'll get my butt out of bed next Saturday and run in the morning.

A damn rash has flared up on my arms and legs again. I'll put some Cortaid on it so that I won't scratch all my skin off while I sleep. Ah, the joy of waking up with blood on the sheets and under my fingernails and explaining to people what happened to my arms and legs. People look at me funny when I say I did this in my sleep. I have self control when awake but sleeping is a different matter.

Yes, I'm a weirdo that scratches herself bloody while she sleeps.

It is too hot to wear long pants while running. Especially since this is a heat related rash.

This week's book:

Van Helsing's Night Off

Goofy spam names and Zen koans:
Relax, you're in the Bahamas (How did they know that is where my mind was?)
I need a good person (We all do.)
Become the man that women desire (Isn't Cary Grant dead? Why would I want to be Cary Grant?)
Of fill do arc freeload
A accept on quits
her complain on overcharge
In spell he formal
Linda Causey enlarge girth and length (No thank you!)
IT'S SO SIMPLE
Of lose on frigid
Assertive and strong
Rock solid

Walked 5,945 steps/ 4.45 kilometers.

Lola is coming back. The person who adopted her decided that she was not ready for a dog.

A very interesting site: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.

Goofy spam names and Zen koans:
On open is grizzle conceal
For say in lengthways yang

Walked 12,000 steps/ 9.00 kilometers.

I received my Matt Furey Inner Circle CDs and newsletter. It is a sample. I was sent two months of CDs instead of one. I can't wait to check them out.

My neck hurts when I move it a certain way.

So stop moving it that way.

But it is the way to be able to check for oncoming traffic.

Well then do like everyone else in this town. Drive by faith. Just pull out and trust God to handle the rest. What do you think all those fish emblems are for?

I once saw a bumper sticker that asked, "How would Jesus drive?" This led me to ask, "Why do people assume that Jesus would be a good driver?"

Healing the sick, walking on water and feeding 5,000 people is impressive but operating a motor vehicle is different.

Walked 4,265 steps/ 3.19 kilometers.

Lola made herself at home. She jumped on to her new owner's couch and got comfortable. It looks like she found a good home.

Goofy spam names and Zen koans:
It doesn't hurt to check Theodore
you study at concernedly blackthorn
on go at vindication guesswork

Walked 11,332 steps/ 8.49 kilometers.

My father-in-law starts his new job tomorrow.

Lola goes to her forever home tomorrow. She has been the best foster dog so far.

Goofy spam names and Zen koans:
casserole portend
sack defuse
No trees were harmed in the making of this floor.
on fill to inferential
on have of scrappy
The use to unshod

This week I ran 16.89 miles, burned 2,116.6 calories and weigh 161.7 pounds.

This week's book:

Nodwick Chronicles II: Of Gods and Henchmen

There are a lot of nerds at church.

Walked 9,944 steps/ 7.45 kilometers. Ran 5K in 34:50. I received the information I need early and accomplished everything today. Even made the copies early.

A nice relaxing evening for me.

Walked 4,114 steps/ 3.08 kilometers.

Salvador needs his own blog.